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At the risk of disappointing some of the true believers, like orrcountry or pzebich, it is actually the original water model produced by PolyMet's consultant, Barr Engineering, that predicts water will run uphill. Keep in mind, the water surface in the PolyMet pit (if mined) is projected to be at an elevation of approximately 1,575 feet at closure in 20 years. The water level at closure for the Peter Mitchell pits are slated to be at 1,300 feet. These two pits are located about a mile apart and are separated by highly fractured bedrock. It doesn't take a genius, or even a computer model, to figure out which way at least some of the water from the PolyMet pit will flow—towards the Peter Mitchell pit, which drains into Birch Lake. The problem was that Barr Engineering used a water surface elevation in the Peter Mitchell pit of 1,616 feet when they calibrated their model, and that's how they got the water from PolyMet to flow south. GLIFWC took the same model, used valid water levels in the Peter Mitchell pit and the model reverses the water flow. No big surprise. Water likes to flow downhill. Maybe orrcountry doesn't care about such things, but I think most Minnesotans would rather get this one right. One final thing. Other than GLIFWC, only Barr Engineering, which works for PolyMet, has run the water model. Neither the DNR, the Forest Service or the Army Corps have run it. Barr generally has a good reputation but they do have a conflict here since they stand to benefit financially if the project is approved. It's the same conflict that taints drug testing by pharmaceutical companies or those "studies" that the cigarette makers used to tout that showed smoking was harmless to your health. When profits are involved, peer review is essential and that's what was missing here, until GLIFWC took a look. And their assessment is pretty withering.